Zhu Jiangming Responds to Comparison Between Leapmotor's ADAS and Tesla FSD: Chinese Cars Can't Enter U.S., FSD Not Launched in China

On the evening of September 16, Leapmotor held its 2026 Annual Technology Launch Event, unveiling its self-developed World Model-based intelligent driving assistance system. This intelligent driving system will be available across all A, B, C, and D platform vehicle models, with upgrade options also offered to existing owners. Following the event, Zhu Jiangming, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Leapmotor Technology, along with Senior Vice Presidents Cao Li, Zhou Hongtao, Wu Cun, and Song Yining, engaged in a dialogue with the media. When asked when Leapmotor’s system would catch up with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD), Zhu responded that there is no direct comparability: Chinese vehicles cannot operate in the U.S., and Tesla’s FSD has not yet been launched in China. He emphasized that road conditions in China differ significantly from those in the U.S., noting, for instance, that the U.S. has far fewer food delivery riders than China. Zhu added that the future goal is to achieve scenarios requiring no driver intervention for an entire week—or even half a month—gradually approaching true autonomous driving. Senior Vice President Zhou Hongtao expressed confidence that Intelligent Driving 4.0 will enable Leapmotor to join the industry’s top tier. He revealed that the cost of Leapmotor’s 4.0 architecture is only 40% of that of the 1.0 era. This reduction in base costs has freed up budget for bill-of-materials (BOM) expenses related to LiDAR, cameras, and intelligent driving chips, allowing Leapmotor to deploy its self-developed World Model 4.0 on A-platform vehicles priced around RMB 100,000. Starting in 2027, Leapmotor’s World Model will be offered as a free upgrade for 350,000 LiDAR-equipped vehicles, rolled out quarterly across different models. The 2024 model-year C16, C11, and C10 will also support this upgrade.